Ruscha’s many references to mass media and consumer culture, such as comic strips and Spam cans, led to his participation in several landmark Pop art exhibitions, including New Painting of Common Objects at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1962, widely considered the first museum survey of American Pop art. In conjunction with the show, its curator Walter Hopps commissioned a print portfolio featuring a mimeograph from each participating artist. Most submissions featured a “common object”—like Ruscha’s car or Goode’s milk bottles—demonstrating the close attention these artists paid to everyday commodities. Andy Warhol’s contribution, which arrived after the deadline, was not included in the portfolio.

Gallery label from

ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN, September 10, 2023 – January 13, 2024

Medium One from a portfolio of five mimeographs on paper
Dimensions sheet (each): 11 × 8 1/2" (28 × 21.6 cm)
Publisher Pasadena Art Museum, California
Printer Unidentified
Edition unknown
Credit Riva Castleman Endowment Fund
Object number 32.2016.5
Department Drawings and Prints

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Edward Ruscha

Edward Ruscha

American, born 1937 254 works online

Once, when asked about the abundance of text in his work, Ed Ruscha explained, “I just happened to paint words like someone else paints flowers.

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